For years, the world’s biggest technology companies were largely able to resist government oversight. That’s changing fast.
Google’s dominance in digital advertising and online search is under threat from twin actions by the US Department of Justice, with a potential breakup of the company among the possible outcomes. The DOJ is also suing Apple Inc., accusing the iPhone maker of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features on its popular devices.
In Europe, Apple and Google parent Alphabet Inc. have been told to pay billions of dollars related to past anticompetitive practices. European Union regulators are now pursuing several tech giants, accusing them of failing to comply with new laws governing digital marketplaces and the policing of social media content.
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have also turned their attention to the huge amounts of money flowing into artificial intelligence, anxious to prevent a handful of firms dominating the emerging industry.
The DOJ cases against Google
Judge Amit Mehta ruled in August 2024 that Google illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads, concluding a case originally filed in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Google has said it will appeal that decision. In the meantime, Mehta has moved ahead with a second trial on how to remedy the illegal conduct.
The Justice Department is seeking to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser and share some of the data that underlies its search results. Such a move would be Washington’s first effort to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since an unsuccessful effort to break up Microsoft two decades ago. The agency is also seeking a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of the case.
In April, in a separate federal case brought by the Justice Department, Judge Leonie Brinkema found that Google illegally monopolized two parts of the $677 billion display advertising market in violation of antitrust laws. The US and a coalition of eight states accused Google of building up a “trifecta of monopolies” to lock up the technology behind website ads and harm publishers and advertisers, and have said they will seek to force Google to sell off some parts of that business. Brinkema has scheduled a hearing for September. Google plans to appeal in that case as well.
The DOJ case against Apple
The suit, filed on March 21 in federal court in New Jersey, marked the culmination of a five-year probe into the iPhone maker.
The DOJ alleges that Apple has imposed software and hardware limitations on iPhones and iPads that make it harder for rivals to compete and for consumers to switch phones. The complaint highlights five examples of technologies in which it says Apple suppresses competition: super apps, cloud streaming game apps, messaging apps, smartwatches and digital wallets.
If the lawsuit is successful, the DOJ could seek a variety of remedies, such as restrictions on contracts with third-party vendors or app makers. It may require that the company open up its devices to alternative app stores or other payment mechanisms.
Apple has vowed to vigorously defend against the DOJ suit, saying it was “wrong on the facts and the law” and would “set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.” It has taken steps to address some of the issues highlighted in the case: It recently added support for cloud-based gaming services and said it would add RCS cross-platform messaging later this year.
The background to the DOJ cases
The Joe Biden administration made competition a cornerstone of its economic policy, with Silicon Valley a key focus. The second Trump administration has so far continued that push.
The DOJ opened its antitrust probe of Apple in 2019, during the first Trump presidency. A 2020 House investigation into four tech giants found that Apple operates as a monopoly in software distribution on the iPhone, generating massive profits from commissions of as much as 30% that it charges developers.
In 2020, Epic Games Inc., the maker of the popular online video game Fortnite, sued Apple over its App Store. A federal judge found the App Store policies didn’t violate federal antitrust law but did breach California state law and ordered some changes to allow developers to communicate directly with customers.
As a result of that case, Apple said in 2024 that it would allow US developers to use alternative payment systems, and would charge a lower fee of 27% for most digital purchases or 12% on subscriptions. Epic contested those changes, saying they are inadequate. In April 2025, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers found that Apple’s changes violated her order and found the company in contempt of court. She also referred the case to federal prosecutors to investigate whether Apple committed criminal contempt of court for flouting her 2021 ruling and lying to the court.
The EU’s twin-track approach
The EU has put in place two laws: the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, both better known by their initials, DMA and DSA.
The DMA took hold on March 7, 2024, hitting big tech firms with a broad list of dos and don’ts based on decades of antitrust enforcement. The aim is to stop abusive conduct by the biggest players before it takes hold.
The DSA became legally enforceable on Aug. 25, laying out content rules for social media platforms, online marketplaces and app stores. It forces their owners to clamp down on misinformation and objectionable content such as hate speech, terrorist propaganda and ads for unsafe products.
The Digital Markets Act
Under the DMA, six tech giants — Alphabet, Amazon.com Inc., Apple, TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd., Meta and Microsoft Corp. — face a range of new prohibitions and obligations. For example, it’s illegal for their platforms to favor their own services over those of rivals. They’re barred from combining personal data across their different services, and prohibited from using data they collect from third-party merchants to compete against them.
Platforms that violate the DMA’s long list of rules risk fines of as much as 10% of their worldwide annual sales. This could rise to 20% in the event of repeat infringements and the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, could even demand a company be broken up in the case of systemic violations. The commission can open proceedings against companies for non-compliance, prescribe specific compliance solutions and impose fines.
The Brussels-based executive has wasted no time in rolling out penalties. Regulators hit Apple and Meta with fines totaling €700 million in April, and more are likely to come later in the year.
To get in line with the DMA, Google announced on March 5 that it would link more in search to comparison sites in areas such as flights, hotels and shopping. Meta previously pledged to allow its Facebook and Instagram services to be unlinked, and Microsoft has said that in future users will be able to uninstall some programs that are normally bundled with Windows.
Apple still needs to bring its app store fee structure for developers in line with the rules. And along with the €500 million penalty it received in April, the smartphone giant must give iPhone users more effective ways to buy cheaper app subscriptions outside of the Apple ecosystem.
The Digital Services Act
Under this legislation, national governments get more power to force the big tech companies to take down material that’s deemed illegal. It also obliges them to submit risk assessments to the European Commission that detail how they are mitigating the impact of harmful content. If it’s found they’re not doing enough, they may be told to alter the algorithms that decide what posts users see.
If they transgress, it could lead to fines running to 6% of their annual revenue. Additional powers to combat misinformation could be triggered during a crisis, such as a war or a pandemic. Ads aimed at children — which have been a significant source of revenue for the companies that own Facebook and Google — have been banned.
Since the new rules took hold, EU regulators have launched a spate of investigations into potential non-compliance, targeting Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and X. On July 12, the EU said it had found X was deceiving users into engaging with potentially harmful content. The bloc has also launched a probe into Chinese e-commerce giant AliExpress to examine compliance with the DSA.
In response to the DSA, Google said it’s disclosing more information about content moderation operations for services like Google Search. Meta said it’s ending targeting of ads for teenagers based on their app activity on Facebook and Instagram. Bytedance announced it would allow users to report illegal content and choose a feed that has not been personalized.
What are regulators doing about AI?
The increasingly common practice for big tech firms to form partnerships with AI startups — most notably Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI — has also piqued the interest of regulators.
EU watchdogs are quizzing market rivals about OpenAI’s exclusive use of Microsoft’s cloud technology. They’ve also been circulating questions to market rivals on Google’s arrangement with smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co. to pre-install its small model “Gemini nano” on certain devices.
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Source: Leah Nylen, Samuel Stolton, and Jillian Deutsch – Bloomberg
